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A Democrat's running start in race to run the Washington State Senate

Joel Connelly, SeattlePI| on March 15, 2017

Photo: Scott Eklund, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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State Sen. Dino Rossi, a two-time Republican gubernatorial candidate, was appointed to the State Senate after the death of GOP Sen. Andy Hill. Rossi has said he is not interested in running in the 45th District election to fill out Hill's term. The Republicans have, however, yet to field a front-rank candidate in the Eastside district. The election this November will determine control of the Senate, and of the Washington Legislature. It is drawing national attention. . less

State Sen. Dino Rossi, a two-time Republican gubernatorial candidate, was appointed to the State Senate after the death of GOP Sen. Andy Hill. Rossi has said he is not interested in running in the 45th ... more

Photo: Scott Eklund, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

A Democrat's running start in race to run the Washington State Senate

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She is not a household name, but Democrat Manka Dhingra is off to a promising start in a special 45th District election that will decide control of the state Senate, a contest watched in both Washingtons.

A new Public Policy Polling survey shows Dhingra, a senior King County deputy prosecutor, with a 46-40 percent advantage over appointed Republican incumbent Sen. Dino Rossi. Rossi is a two-time Republican nominee for governor and ran for U.S. Senate in 2010.

Rossi took the job after the death of state Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond. Rossi has said he is not interested in running in November 2017's special election to fill out Hill's term.

The Republicans have, however, yet to field a front-rank candidate for a seat they must hold.

Rossi is a skilled lawmaker. He is the GOP's most knowledgeable budget writer in Olympia. He has also authored a highly regarded bipartisan plan to issue bonds for long-overdue maintenance of Washington's 125,000-acre state parks system.

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The 45th District, in the Kirkland-Redmond area, re-elected Hill against a spirited Democratic challenge in 2014. It went for Hillary Clinton last year, however, and Public Policy Polling has looked at the polarizing impacts of Donald Trump.

According to the pollster, just 30 percent of the 743 voters it surveyed approve of Trump, while a whopping 64 percent disapprove of the job he is doing. Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, carries a 52 percent approval rating with 36 percent giving him a thumbs-down.

Seventy-one percent of those polled said they are concerned about the direction America is headed under Trump's leadership, with 62 percent "very concerned." Just 28 percent said they are "not too concerned" or "not concerned at all."

The Democrats are coalescing behind Dhingra. She has reportedly raised a six-figure war chest. Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., have sent out fundraising letters on her behalf.

The state Senate currently consists of 24 Republicans, 24 Democrats and one renegade Democrat, Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-Potlach, who votes with the GOP and gives them control of the Legislature's upper house.

If Dhingra wins, the Democrats would control both houses of the Legislature as well as the governor's office, where they've had a lock since 1985.

Public Policy Polling has Democratic roots but was quick off the mark in reporting drops in President Obama's approval ratings the last eight years.

New Direction PAC, which commissioned the poll, is a national outfit with links to labor.

It has retained Democratic strategist Kelly Steele to work the race. Steele was a big player in the 2008 re-election of Gov. Chris Gregoire, has worked twice for Sen. Maria Cantwell and worked the 2010 come-from-behind re-election of Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada. He was part of the unsuccessful effort to recall Wisconsin's anti-labor Gov. Scott Walker.

Steele is known for beginning to define (negatively) the opponent early in an election race. It is a skill often displayed by Republican legislative strategists and has caught Democrats flat-footed in several state races.